It’s hard to describe a panic attack. They’re a form of anxiety, but they are so physical in their symptoms that they feel much more like a health problem than they do an anxiety problem.
During a panic attack, a person experiences symptoms like:
- Chest Pains
- Trouble Breathing
- Lightheadedness
- Shaking/Sweating
- Pounding Heart
Chronic panic attacks over a long period of time can also lead to “mystery symptoms” like eye pain and trouble walking.
The emotional and cognitive symptoms of panic attacks also tend to contribute to the physical symptoms. For example, one symptom of panic attacks is a “feeling of doom.” When a person feels like their heart is pounding rapidly, a feeling of doom makes them feel as though something is terribly wrong with their heart.
You can likely already imagine how this can become a problem.
If you’re constantly struggling with these physical symptoms, and you have severe anxiety that makes you feel like something is terribly wrong, then it’s not going to be uncommon for those with panic disorder to start to also experience health anxiety.
Even if they are familiar with the symptoms of panic attacks (and many people are not!), it’s hard to feel issues like chest pains and trouble breathing and not wonder “What if?”
- What if it’s not a panic attack?
- What if the panic attack is because something is wrong with my heart or brain?
- What if these OTHER symptoms are because of a health issue?
- What if I’m feeling anxious because I’m noticing a health issue?
Another symptom of recurring panic attacks is known as “hypersensitivity,” which refers to noticing and feeling sensations quicker and stronger than you would experience them normally. That means that “normal” feelings, like a light tinge in your leg, you’ll notice immediately and experience more powerfully than if you did not have panic attacks.
All of this leads up to a common challenge for those with panic attacks: the development of health anxiety. While not everyone with panic attacks and panic disorder will develop health anxiety, those that do often find that it is a tremendous struggle. They feel like they have to go to the doctor. They obsess over their health. Their anxiety isn’t limited to panic attacks alone, and can occur even when they are not experiencing a panic attack.
But that’s still not all.
Once a person has health anxiety, that same health anxiety can then become a panic attack trigger. You become worried about your health, you get anxious, you trigger a panic attack. The result being a vicious cycle that makes it difficult to find relief.
What’s Next?
You have to stop this cycle.
You have to learn how to avoid anxiety while still paying attention to your health.
You have to learn how to control panic attack triggers and address the anxiety that both causes them and is caused by them.
You have to learn why you developed these attacks and what you can do to stop them.
I’m an anxiety therapist in Chandler, AZ that is licensed to serve all of Arizona and California. I specialize specifically in anxiety, and I’m here to help you manage your panic attacks, health anxiety, or any other anxiety or stress related challenges. Ready to get started? Please contact me today.